Review: A King Undone by Cooper Davis
Publisher: Samhain
Publish Date: December 9, 2014
Reviewed by: Heller
How I got this book: E-Arc from Publisher
Sometimes you have to risk everything, to follow your heart
Noble Pleasures, Book 1
“In a world where gentlemen openly court and marry fellow noblemen, the threat of scandal still lurks behind every velvet drape for kings and princes. Such has been the fate for King Arend Tollemach, forced to sacrifice his heart on the altar of regal duty.
Now that his wife is dead and his royal obligations are at an end, he s ready to take an unthinkable risk. King Arend seeks a concubine from Temple Sapphor, a secretive, gated world where he will finally shed his virginity as least as it pertains to making love to a man.
Julian never thought he’d spend ten years on the temple shelf, passed over again and again. Just when he despairs of ever finding placement in a nobleman s bed, Arend walks into the temple. A lonely eyed, beautiful king who could easily steal his heart.
Arend discovers he has no problem opening his bed to the exquisite concubine. The problem lies in finding the key to his long-shuttered heart.
Warning: Contains a beautiful, virgin king desperate to bed another man, a concubine who fantasizes about being claimed and revered by a strong monarch, and a sea of scandal set against a sensual, palatial backdrop.”
I loved the concept here. Virgin King and Concubine really whet my curiosity, unfortunately it didn’t work for me at all. While I enjoyed Julian’s character and his struggles I found I couldn’t connect to Arend’s which I found tremendously disappointing. He felt, in many ways, like a puppet king with the council always and endlessly pulling his strings, and that, coupled with some of his actions towards Julian made him come across more as petulant and arrogant.
While I love a slow burn romance, this didn’t read as one for me. The constant almost there teasing only added to my frustration with the characters and story, not my anticipation. While I initially found the fantasy setting intriguing it resulted in a style of writing that felt very awkward and stilted and I had a hard time finishing this one.
I’m giving A King Undone a D